While Purchase and Hunter celebrated after following the British men's four in being crowned Olympic champions, the women's quad were devastated at being beaten into second place.

Katherine Grainger, Frances Houghton, Debbie Flood and Annie Vernon had set all their ambitions on winning gold and were in tears after being overtaken by a late surge from the Chinese.

The men's eight also won silver in the final race to complete an impressive British return of six medals from 10 finalists. Twenty-three of the 43-strong team will head home with a medal.

It is the the best return for British rowing since the first London Olympics of 1908 and signalled well and truly that there is life in British rowing after Redgrave and Pinsent.

Team leader David Tanner said: 'It has been fantastic. We are top of the table and it is fabulous.

'Unlike Michael Phelps, you can't multi-medal in rowing. Only two nations won more than one gold medal and we were one of them.'

The momentum on the water was set yesterday when the men's four - Steve Williams, Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Tom James - produced a storming finish to seal a third straight Olympic gold in the event.

'It is brilliant to have this heavy medal hanging around my neck - I'm glad I did the weights in the winter to be able to hold it!" laughed Purchase.

'Here you see the result of 18 months of really hard work that has paid off perfectly. I am sure the bar at the hotel will take a bit of a hit this evening. We have been looking forward to this for so long.'

Hunter was competing at his second Olympics and the elation of victory was all the greater given the intense disappointment he suffered in Athens.

'Coming 13th in the lightweight four, that was the most depressing experience of my life. It took me a long time to come to terms with that,' he said.

'I started in the double in 2005, Zac came along last year and made us stronger and that is what won it for us today - we are the two best guys in the world in a double."

The Greeks put Britain under pressure in the closing stages but Hunter and Purchase dug into the depths of their character, as the men's four did yesterday, to hold on for a 13th consecutive victory.

'I just kept pounding away. I was in a dark place but there was just so much belief and that was what kept us going," said Hunter, who collapsed to his knees and threw up when he hit dry land.

'Who said 13 is an unlucky number? When we crossed the line I knew we had won it. Zac went ballistic. I didn't really know where I was.'

Hunter was in bits physically. The women's quad were in emotional tatters. Their whole raison d'etre was gold and they had missed out to a powerful Chinese finish.

Grainger has now won three consecutive Olympic silver medals. It is an achievement to be proud of, but Grainger could not escape the feeling the quad had fallen short.

'It is going to be hard coming to terms with another silver,' she said.

'We always said that silver wouldn't be good enough for us. I am so proud to race with this crew, we felt so strong in the last 500 but we just weren't able to latch it together. Most of the race we were the best crew, but not at the end.'

All four were in tears. Houghton and Flood both won silvers in the quad four years ago. Like Purchase, Vernon was at her first Olympics.

'I feel so empty,' she said, the confidence drained from her. 'If we can't do it now, when will we do it?'

The answer, of course, is London 2012 - but no-one was thinking about that tonight.

The men's eight also won silver after edging out the United States in a tight finish and the reaction in their boat was more positive.

'We were out there racing for gold but silver is still amazing,' said West, who finished ninth in the men's eight at the Athens Games.

'"It's a very different experience being out there at the top rather than the bottom.'

unbeaten World Cup campaign and commanding performances in the heats andsemi-finals.

And they lived up to all expectations to beat world silver medallists Greece byhalf a length, with world champions Denmark third.

They followed the men's four in winning gold for Britain.

It was the lightweight double's 13 consecutive victory and Hunter said: "Thatwas amazing. Who said 13 was an unlucky number? We've got rid of that one!

"Before the race we sat down and said we wanted to come here and win this. Wehave worked all this year, and last year, the last 10 years and it comes down tosix and a half minutes or so of hell - but with a fantastic result. It'sunbelievable."

There were wildly contrasting emotions in the women's quad boat after they werebeaten into second place by a late surge from China.

The women's quad of Katherine Grainger, Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton andAnnie Vernon were devastated to have missed out on gold.

"It is going to be hard coming to terms with another silver," said Grainger,who finished second in the women's quad scull in Sydney 2000 and in the women'spair at Athens 2004.

"We always said that silver wouldn't be good enough for us.

"I am so proud to race with this crew, we felt so strong in the last 500 butwe just weren't able to latch it together. Most of the race we were the bestcrew, but not at the end."

The men's eight then claimed a second silver for Great Britain, finishing aheadof the United States by just two tenths of a second. World champions Canada wongold.